Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM, April 12 (AP) - Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert was buying bread. Secretary of State Powell was at a nearby helipad. And Awadallah Hussein had just pulled up in front of Jerusalem's main market when the thunderous blast of a suicide bomber sent fire into the front of his bus.

Olmert ran through the crowds to help. Powell flew overhead and Hussein went to the hospital with dozens more injured by the attack which left six Israelis and the female bomber dead.

Friday was the sixth time the Mahane Yehuda market had been hit.

It's known to Israelis as the "shuk,"--a decades-old outdoor maze of stalls, where shoppers bump shoulders and rough, stubble-faced hawkers lean out over crates of red tomatoes, spices and silver fish, shouting out the best prices.

The mesh of winding lanes and dark tunnels packed into a few blocks draws religious Jews who turn over loaves of bread in search of tags certifying strict kosher observance, hip young Israelis searching for vegetarian specialties, middle-class office workers and elderly pensioners.

Over the years, it has also drawn Palestinian suicide bombers, who blend into the anonymity of the crowd before detonating explosives.

On Friday afternoon, just before the start of the Jewish Sabbath, a female suicide bomber stepped into the crowd, blowing herself up near the heavily guarded market entrance, killing six people and wounding 84.

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